Automating maintenance
As summer turned into Autumn and it eventually got cold enough to turn the heating on (if you remember, Autumn 2022 was very warm and it wasn’t until well into November we turned the heating on), I found that, as happens every year, some of my TRVs were no longer working. The long period during which they hadn’t operated meant they had stuck in the closed position. What a pain!!
So it was off to the toolbox, out with the pliers, off with the TRVs and then grab that little “spindle” and pull it in and out a few times in the hope the TRVs work again. After a few repetitions with some of the less cooperative radiator valves, they all seemed to work again. Phew!
This got me thinking. Of course with those TRVs with remote ZigBee controllability, I can surely put together some sort of maintenance regime that will avoid the need for this annual farce. Moreover, it’s always possible a TRV will not respond to my blandishments and be stuck forever, necessitating an expensive and awkward replacement.
So I have now, using Node-RED of course, set up the following for my ZigBee controllable TRVs:
A flow that runs every Sunday in the early hours when the heating is usually off. This runs throughout the year with no periods off.
This flow sets the TRV temperature low and then high (the temperatures so low and high they’re unlikely to be exceeded at the time of running). I run this twice for no other reason than it seems a good idea! I leave a good minute or so between each temperature change to ensure that the valve has time to fully respond.
The effect is to open and close that spindle in the TRV. Now there is no extended period of several months when the spindle doesn’t move.
Hopefully, this will prevent these valves from needing my annual care and attention (I’ll report back later this year if I remember). Of course this will mean a little extra battery use in these TRVs but any extra costs should be more than offset by not needing to replace the valves.
I wonder if there are any other similar tasks I could automate?